User interface

Hello Everyone
Almost done the electrical end of my Fadal CNC retrofit. Im looking into the GUI for it now.

I see the LINUXCNC install comes with a few GUI already, is there an advantage to using those over lets say probe basic?

Right now Im leaning towards QTDragon because it comes with the install.

Thanks In advance for any help.

It depends on what you like and are used to.
Personally i like Axis GUI as it is by far the most reliable so for me on industrial machines that wins, but GmoccaPy has a certain flare to it, QtDragon looks like a million $ and Probe Basic is a monster in disguise with all the features implemented into it.

I would echo what tommylight said,

Axis is not beautiful but when testing hardware I
use it because it can run for months 24/7 with 0 issues

If you use a touchscreen, think about what works well with it.

Well Ive never ran a CNC before. Its all a huge learning curve for me.  I figure if Im going to learn I might as well decide which one now.

Is the support in the community the same for both? Why does the linuxcnc install come with QTDragon and not probe basic?

Probe Basic is a separate project for LinuxCNC.

Always get your machine working fully on axis first, then consider converting to a more modern interface. With say qrdragon, there are quite a lott of additional pins to connect to the GUI to enable every feature but you need to be confident the basics (from axis) are working... Be aware of screen size  limitations. I had to buy another monitor for QTD...

Just to follow on from Rod's comment.

Many of the UIs that are visually modern/graphical expect a 1080p display.  For example ProbeBasic imust have 1080p or larger.  The upside is a lot on a single screen at once. The more "original" or "old school" UIs expact much less with a 720p display being very roomy for them.

Re the comments on starting with Axis.  I would second that approach VERY strongly.   You will save youself a huge amount of potential frustration by having a working machine under Axis as your baseline.  That way when moving to another UI and you have issues you can better pin point where things are falling down when you KNOW you have a working Axis config.

For startup Axis is as solid as you can get, as soon as you want something more suited to your machine and work flow then Flex GUI is the best because you can have what ever you want and what ever screen size you want. Other GUI's you have to use what the programmer wants you to use.

JT

Well to be fair there is the included Qtvcp too.
You can build what ever you like with it.
Qtdragon uses Qtvcp.

What toolkit is best is probably subjective